The destruction of phone and internet connections has plunged Gaza into a communications blackout and created an information vacuum amid the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far.
A handful of reports that emerged from the enclave on Saturday depicted chaos and anguish as paramedic teams and aid agencies struggled to coordinate rescue and relief efforts and families sought news about relatives.
Rushdi Abualouf, a journalist working for the BBC in Gaza, said since communications were cut on Friday night ambulance drivers could not receive instructions so they simply drove in the direction of explosions.
“There’s been panic everywhere, even here in Khan Younis, where the bombing was less, as people try to reach family members in other areas to check they are safe, but the phones have been cut off,” he wrote. “It’s total chaos.”
The bombing has destroyed “all remaining international routes connecting Gaza to the outside world”, according to the Palestinian telecoms provider Jawwal. The telecoms provider Paltel said the bombardment caused “complete disruption” of internet, cellular and landline services.
Mark Regev, a senior Israeli government adviser, said disrupting enemy communications was a standard wartime tactic but stopped short of confirming it was intentional. “In military operations conducted by the British army, the American army, often it is standard behaviour to disrupt the communications of your enemy.”
Palestinians, aid groups, journalists and civil society organisations said they had lost touch with staff and families in Gaza.
Shortly after reports of lost service, exceptionally heavy bombardment was heard in the territory, and the Israel Defense Forces said their air and ground forces were intensifying their attacks in Gaza.
Already in darkness after most electricity was cut off and fuel for generators ran out, Gaza’s 2.3 million people were thrown into isolation from the rest of the world.
Explosions from continuous airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours, but the communications cutoff meant that the number of casualties from strikes and details of ground incursions could not immediately be known.
Palestinians outside Gaza have been unable to reach their relatives. The poet and author Mohammed el-Kurd tweeted: “No one I know in Gaza is answering my texts.”
The loss of communication dealt a further blow to a medical and aid system which was already on the brink of collapse under Israel’s three-week siege.
Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestine, tweeted that, without phone lines and internet, hospitals and aid operations would be unable to operate. “Wars have rules. Civilians must be protected,” she said.
Relief agencies and human rights groups including Unicef, ICRC, Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty also said they had lost all contact with their staff in the embattled territory.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that they had “completely lost contact with operation rooms due to the Israeli authorities cutting off all landline, cellular and internet communications”.
They added: “We are deeply concerned about the ability of our teams to continue providing their emergency medical services, especially since this disruption affects the central emergency number 101 and hinders the arrival of ambulance vehicles to the wounded and injured.”
In a statement, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said: “We have lost touch with our staff in Gaza, with health facilities, health workers and the rest of our humanitarian partners on the ground. This siege makes me gravely concerned for their safety and the immediate health risks of vulnerable patients.”
Human Rights Watch said the blackout risked providing cover for atrocities and human rights violations. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it could lead to “serious consequences” and the spread of misinformation.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns at Amnesty International, said: “Internet and telecommunications infrastructure must also be restored as a matter of urgency, to allow rescue operations amid Israeli pounding airstrikes and expanding ground operations.”
